To win a case in the High Court of Australia is a feat that many lawyers will only dream about. But lawyers, Benjamin Goh and Leonardo Premutico from Benjamin & Leonardo Criminal Defence Lawyers are far from dreamers. Not only winning their case in the nation’s highest court, but setting a new legal precedent for those on trial for murder or manslaughter in connection with drug laboratories.

In what turned out to be a landmark case, Benjamin and Leonardo’s High Court win, resulted in the birth of the new ruling that has been dubbed the ‘Breaking Bad Defence’, after the popular television series. Their client, known only as IL, was charged by the police with constructive murder of her meth cook. On 4 January 2013, in the early hours of the morning, the Ryde based meth laboratory that the pair were operating exploded, causing the house to go up in flames. The meth cook, later died in hospital from the burns he sustained.

However, her lawyers successfully argued that their client could not legally face such a charge, because it was possible that the deceased had unintentionally caused the explosion himself, leading to the fire which ultimately killed him. Benjamin said, “It’s a significant development in the law because police will now have to reconsider the way they prosecute people in drug lab deaths”.